The former Sears store at River Hills Mall in Mankato may finally get a second life. A local developer has reportedly purchased the property with plans to transform it into a recreation district featuring a go-kart track, potentially bringing new activity to the site.
According to KEYC, the announcement came via social media from CBC Fisher Group, though the developer's identity and a timeline for the project have not been disclosed. The Sears store opened at River Hills Mall in 1997 and closed in the spring of 2017, according to the same report, while the rest of the mall has continued to operate. Further details of the development plan have not been shared.
No Word Yet on Timeline or Developer
For now, the recreation district remains short on specifics. KEYC's report makes clear there is no word on who the developer is or when the recreational space might open, leaving Mankato residents to wonder how soon they might see go-karts rolling through a building that once sold appliances and tools.
The move fits a broader pattern playing out at former Sears locations around the country, where empty big-box anchors have increasingly become targets for entertainment conversions rather than traditional retail. Real estate researcher Victor Calanog told CNN Business that experiential tenants draw foot traffic in a way that's less vulnerable to competition from online shopping.
Similar Conversions Have Popped Up Nationwide
Mankato wouldn't be the first community to see a shuttered Sears reborn with racing in mind. Near Traverse City, Michigan, a former Sears at Cherryland Center was slated to become a K1 Speed go-kart franchise after receiving unanimous approval from the Garfield Township Planning Commission for indoor recreation use, as reported by MLive. In upstate New York, plans emerged to convert an 86,000-square-foot former Sears at Aviation Mall into an indoor karting venue with six racing simulators, an arcade, mini golf, and party rooms, according to the Glens Falls Chronicle.
One of the more fully realized examples sits in Sanford, Florida, where Elev8 Fun opened an indoor family entertainment park inside a 120,000-square-foot former Sears attached to Seminole Town Center Mall in January 2022, complete with arcade games, laser tag, mini golf, and go-karts, per CNN Business. That outlet also reported that completed Elev8 Fun projects have taken more than a year to build and cost upward of $15 million per location on average, including acquisition and refurbishment costs — though it remains unclear whether the Mankato project will follow a similar scale or timeline.
Whether River Hills Mall's transformation ends up resembling any of those projects remains to be seen, since no additional features beyond a recreation district and go-kart track have been confirmed. For a mall whose Sears anchor closed in 2017, even the prospect of new activity is likely to turn heads around Mankato.
